FBI to help probe US campus shooting

FBI is assisting authorities investigate the shooting at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in which a gunman opened fire on a class of 150, killing six and injuring 15 before committing suicide.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is assisting authorities investigate the shooting at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in which a gunman opened fire on a class of 150, killing six and injuring 15 before committing suicide.

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Though the shooter has been identified as Steven Phillip Kazmierczak, a 27-year-old former student of NIU at DeKalb, about 100 km from Chicago, no motive has been established.

The NIU Police, in charge of the probe, called the FBI Thursday evening, asking it to specifically process the crime scene. The FBI team is also assisting with student witness interviews and shooter’s background investigation, an FBI note said.

According to FBI's crime scene recreation, Kazmierczak entered the rear door of a lecture auditorium in Kohl Hall on the campus. A class of approximately 150 students was in progress when he began firing into the crowded auditorium. He then returned to the stage in the auditorium and shot himself fatally.

He was a graduate student in sociology at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois.